Investing/Stock Market/etc - Page 3

On April 20 2011 04:48 Molybdenum wrote:

Edit: Razith (3 posts below), thanks, I'll go with one of those options then.

On April 20 2011 04:28 chonkyfire wrote:
Did you just make an investing thread and say your portfolio consists of mutual funds?

That kind of screams "I know nothing about investing"

Also penny stocks most certainly do exist, they just need something that is going to end up making them money. There are all kinds of biotech stocks that are penny stocks right now that could very well see a 500% increase in value over the next year.

High yielding stocks are great, if you have a lot of money invested into them. If you don't have any money invested your not going to see any returns worth writing home about.

On April 20 2011 04:52 chonkyfire wrote:

Mutual funds are not usually aggressive at all. They are for people with 401K stock options. They invest in historically good stocks that have high yields. You think people who run a mutual fund are going to risk people's retirements so they can make more money? Hell no.

If that's your investing philosophy that's fine, but I can tell you right now you're not going to get rich doing that.

On April 20 2011 05:01 bRuTaL!! wrote:


Why even bother with penny stocks. Just gamble. You wont be getting rich with the penny stocks either if you start with $5,000. MOst likely youll just lose it all. I think everyones plan is to get wealthier, not rich overnight.

On April 20 2011 04:31 bRuTaL!! wrote:
My portfolio is now up 80% in the last two+ years. Now thought Im kind of at a loss with what to do. Usually the market is pretty easy to time. The whole EU and US debt thing. Rising oil. Possible instability in China: its housing market and inflation.

On April 20 2011 04:51 happyft wrote:
Heh by your logic, any company that doesn't pay dividends is speculative? So conversely, any company that does pay dividends is not speculative? 'Cuz let me tell you, I've lost a few thousands dollars on T 'cuz I figured, hey its a safe telecom stock, and its dividend yield is 7%! Yeah, no, I definitely lost 10% on that stock. Piece of crap T ... still hate it.

On April 20 2011 04:51 happyft wrote:
AAPL does not rise and fall with Jobs' heartbeat. The stock rises and falls with the iPhone and iPad sales numbers. The play on Jobs health ended back in late '08 to late '09. Remember when Jobs announced he's taking another health leave of absence beginning of this year? Stock didn't even flinch .. and in fact, it rose steadily from $320 to $360 for the few months after that.

You're right, Android has begun taking share especially in the smartphone market, but not even close with the tablet market. Obviously no one can have all the share in the smartphone market -- the more important question is whether the Android OS will be able to provide a user experience that is at least almost as good as the iPhone. I'd argue the App Store is far superior to the Android Store on both # of apps, ease of use, ease of search, and the developers get paid a HUGE amount more with the iPhone (for some reason, Android users don't like to spend money).

But to continue my point -- iPhone market share is really secondary to whether iPhone prices stay at $200-300. If the Android does catchup in all the aforementioned aspects, then carriers can start negotiating with Apple harder and start demanding price concessions, which will directly eat into AAPL's iPhone margins (which provide ~2/3rds of its profit!). That's my real concern on the stock.

Just a side note, Android is easier to develop for b/c the programming langauge is in C/C++, whereas iPhone is in C#. Some argue that iPhone's SDK is better and easier to use, but regardless, all agree that you get paid hundreds, if not thousands times more with the iPhone as a developer.

On April 20 2011 04:51 happyft wrote:
Lastly, please, never ever value a company by its trailing 12 month P/E. Either use forward 12 months, or even two years out, or whatever you believe a company's stable real long-term earnings potential number is.

On April 20 2011 05:01 bRuTaL!! wrote:


Why even bother with penny stocks. Just gamble. You wont be getting rich with the penny stocks either if you start with $5,000. MOst likely youll just lose it all. I think everyones plan is to get wealthier, not rich overnight.

On April 20 2011 05:04 happyft wrote:


Seems like we're in the same boat (though you seem to keep track of macro trends more than I do, or at least emphasize it more than I do). Rising energy prices seems to have put a dampener on construction/industrial spending at the very least from what I can tell. And yeah I'm concerned over China as well -- TV sales there haven't been as great as they should be, it seems like consumer spending over there is pulling back a little bit.

But the thing is, I can't really point to anything that would cause me to go bearish on the market either. And you never know when suddenly everyone gets optimistic again. So it's like, I'm not gonna go net-short ... and I don't want to go neutral either cuz I'm not miss out on a run ... but I'm worried cuz I don't think the market can go higher from here. lol talk about being indecisive, no wonder the markets are so choppy if everyone else is feeling like we do =P

On April 20 2011 04:35 Hawk wrote:


maybe you should read up about the past of nuclear history if you think that drop is 'random'. Just because no one has canceled a plant in the two months since the accident doesn't mean that isn't on the horizon.

On April 20 2011 05:16 chonkyfire wrote:

I don't think investing in penny stocks is necessarily get rich quick plan.

If there is a small pharma company that's trading 60 cents a share, but has a drug promising drug that they could get a patent for in the next year or two, that stock could see a 400-600% increase in value easily. If it happens sell it, you pay 15% capital gains tax and make a ton of money. Obviously you can lose it, but hey fuck it.

On April 20 2011 05:20 bRuTaL!! wrote:


If others know the same thing, wouldnt it be priced in already?

On April 20 2011 05:16 buhhy wrote:


Without dividends, you are counting on the stock to advance. That's pretty much the definition of speculation...



Lol, no. Android SDK is Java, which is the most common and popular programming language. iPhone SDK is Objective-C, which absolutely NO ONE uses beyond iPhone development. The Apple SDK also does not run natively on windows. Also, Android can be run on any system, none of Apple's proprietary crap. Currently, I feel Android isn't as stable as the iOS, but that could quickly change given the open source nature. Microsoft won the OS wars because they allowed windows to be installed on any hardware. Android will likely win as well in the future.

The explosion of iPhone developer start-ups is IMO somewhat of a bubble. The market will become saturated, and the number of start-up companies will decrease.

Apple already occupies a fringe in the PC market, most of their margin comes from handhelds. If iPhones lose market share to Android devices, and either prices drop to compensate, or market share drops. Neither is desirable



You are then speculating that the company will meet the predicted margins? Shouldn't you be examining all data available to you anyways?

On April 20 2011 03:29 annul wrote:
when i was 13 i almost won the etrade challenge. i came in 53rd (out of 120k~), having led it the entire time until the final day =(. age 13.

i am a year away from graduating law school. my first year out i will be as financially conservative as i am now, and i intend to live cheap and pay off all of my loans ASAP.

so, in two years, when i do not have high APR breathing down my neck, i can start investing and making my money again <3

that said i would look at partypoker (dunno the symbol). they are the only big site not hit by #blackfriday and were traditionally marginalized in that industry.... probably until now.

On April 20 2011 05:16 bRuTaL!! wrote:


Yeah I study economics as my major in university so I play to my strengths. The problem I have is that the debt thing is just not getting much better. Lately to the contrary. The rabbit hole might be a bit deeper than people thought.